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If there is any doubt about having a public probe into intimidation of docs who open their mouths it’s gone now.

A Health Quality Council of Alberta interim report reveals how a number of doctors who stand up for their patients see hospital privileges pulled, contracts for their services changed or cancelled and blackballing from colleagues.

Some pack up and leave the province.

So those truth tellers dismissed by the provincial Tories as mischief makers, crackpots and government haters (hi, mom!) are right. There is smoke and there is fire.

“Many of the stories we’ve heard from physicians would vindicate the allegations that some doctors who have spoken out on behalf of their patients were intimidated in that process,” says Dr. John Cowell, the health council’s main man.

Cowell says what they hear from “dramatically upset” docs in “tense, difficult or stressful circumstances” is “very disturbing” and “often very sad.”

“In many of these cases physicians were speaking out on what they believed would be the correct path for patient care and ran into problems.”

He adds they haven’t looked at other professionals in the health-care system but his quality council is “led to believe many of these same stories would apply.”

And to make matters worse, read this nugget from Cowell.

“We have spoken with some who have been characterized as the intimidators and what we found is they had no idea they were intimidating. In fact, they felt intimidated themselves.”

Yikes.

Cowell says a doc losing his hospital privileges is “quite catastrophic” es-pecially since there is only one group in Alberta now providing these privileges, Alberta Health Services.

Having a doctor’s contract for services nixed or the terms fiddled with can lead to “a very severe impact” with “very highly qualified individuals having no option” except one, buying a one-way ticket out of the mess.

The investigating doctor isn’t done.

Cowell points out who has authority between the government bigshots and their paper shufflers, Alberta Health Services and its board and big wheels and docs is “blurred, confusing and inconsistent.”

His people have spoken to a lot of physicians but he believes “the great silent majority” in the profession need to be heard to find out how widespread the intimidation goes.

Yes, in a province where a lot of political shenanigans gets buried or buck-passed into the ether, Cowell is never one to sweep anything under the carpet. Far from it.

He uncovered big problems at a hospital in the former premier’s own riding, chronicled the provincial government’s botched rollout of H1N1 shots and found overdosing of kids at the Alberta Children’s Hospital.

His full report on that screw-up was kept from the public by Alberta Health Services until politician cages were rattled.

Cowell says he’s made preliminary contact with Fred Horne, the new health minister, and says the health council getting additional powers such as the power to subpoena witnesses “would really be quite useful to us.”

Horne tells the Sun the province is still committed to “a full independent inquiry.”

“In my view, and the premier I know shares the view because we’ve discussed it, the inquiry has to include the ability to compel testimony” and “be fully independent with the proceedings in public.”

He also says the queue-jumping allegation, a grenade tossed out there by former health head honcho Stephen Duckett, where the well-connected were said to hook-up with Tory MLAs who had go-to guys in the system to get them medical care faster, should be part of any probe.

No plan has been finalized and Horne wants to see the health quality council’s final report before going forward, but that doesn’t happen until February.

An election is expected in June. The clock ticks on this time bomb. Rockin’ Ron Liepert, the finance minister and former health minister, is nobody’s fool. He is on record opposing an inquiry.

Can you imagine a probe going on in the lead-up to a ballot battle? Ask former PM Paul Martin how that works, holding the bag for the last guy.

Then let’s not forget Dr. Raj Sherman, the Liberal leader.

Sherman was booted from the Tories for talking too much, attacked the party for its dismal record on emergency room care and intimidation of doctors. For his efforts, he was suspected of losing his marbles.